Diogenes Laërtius · fl. 3rd century CE
Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.50 — Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
Translation by R. D. Hicks (1925)
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.50
Reported speech · Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
There is a difference between the process and the outcome of presentation. The latter is a semblance in the mind such as may occur in sleep, while the former is the act of imprinting something on the soul, that is a process of change, as is set forth by Chrysippus in the second book of his treatise Of the Soul (De anima). For, says he, we must not take “impression” in the literal sense of the stamp of a seal, because it is impossible to suppose that a number of such impressions should be in one and the same spot at one and the same time. The presentation meant is that which comes from a real object, agrees with that object, and has been stamped, imprinted and pressed seal-fashion on the soul, as would not be the case if it came from an unreal object.
Cite this passage
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.50 (on the Stoics), tr. R. D. Hicks (1925)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/lives-of-the-stoics/7.50
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book VII, tr. R. D. Hicks (Loeb, 1925). Text: Perseus Digital Library (CC BY-SA 4.0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesSeparates the process of an impression forming in the mind from its result, a mental picture like one in a dream. Chrysippus is cited arguing that the seal comparison is only a figure of speech, and that a true impression comes from a real object and matches it. Technical theory of perception.
Older wording
- “semblance”
- — an appearance or likeness
- “presentation”
- — a mental impression
- “seal-fashion”
- — pressed in like a seal into wax
Themes and situations
- Judgements and impressions
- Nature and the cosmos
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